I am wondering if you all (or any) had to go through the process of figuring out whether you are eating enough food?

Yesterday I think I ran the tank dry, and I'm kind of feeling the aftereffects of that. Or maybe not--maybe I'm just feeling a bit queasy today for unrelated reasons. Because of a busy schedule and needing to time my eating around some activities, I ended up having only one meal. I saw a substantial drop on the scale this morning, and my clothes even look looser. I'm not trying to go pedal-to-the-metal on weight loss, so that was not my intent. And I have had one-meal days before and done fine.

I'm just wondering if, as we get closer to our optimal body weights, we have more immediate need for food energy, and need to eat a little more than we do in the losing mode.

There is the this-feels-good hunger of mild tummy rumbles, and the this-does-not-feel-good hunger. This led to the latter, but when I went to eat, nothing appealed to me much, and I ate in small amounts to not overwhelm myself. Am I just discovering new territory here?

You may be over thinking things. One off day could be just one off day. If a pattern sets up that's something else but right now I would say just relax about it. I might just be an annoying person who doesn't make a big deal about maintenance. I find that as long as I keep eating pretty much how I ate when I was losing weight I do pretty well. I may eat a few more carbs and a few more calories but really there's not much difference between losing and maintenance for me. I did switch from three meals per day to two meals per day but the amount of food I eat has stayed pretty much the same. I try to stay vigilant but relaxed, meaning I continue to pay attention to what and how much and when food enters my body but having figured that out I also try to relax around it. Sometimes the scale goes up a bit and sometimes it goes down. I can't always tell why. Our bodies are not precision machines. Keep the food steady and the body will find its own level a long as you keep eating low carb/keto or at least that's what I believe.

Jean has been maintaining far longer than I have, but I do agree with her. My Maintenance WOE is pretty much the same as when I was losing with one exception. I don't do much IF because if I do, I tend to under eat. This never good for me.

Hi-
I'd say to just pay attention to how you are feeling, and see what happens. I go though periods where nothing I'm usually eating appeals- even repels- and that means I need to change it up. More salt/ more crunch/something different. See what happens, but please let us know too. I don't do IF- 3 meals a day, and not eating enough is usually not an issue.
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Yesterday during a music lesson I actually had to stop and eat because I was not able to accurately read the notes on the page. This followed a swim, and the yogurt/berries/nuts I ate there was my first meal of the day. Normally that doesn't bother me, but the swim might have drained me dry.

I do tend to over-analyze, but I've been feeling queasy off-and-on since morning. I ate some salad around 7 (and I don't eat in the mornings), went back to sleep, and have eaten lightly since then. Drank some water, took some activated charcoal, and listened to family members' Christmas drama on the phone for about two hours.

As I said, maybe just a bug or something unrelated.

Also wondered (I mentioned I overanalyze, right?) if the last fat to be lost is the first to be gained. In other words, is my body getting into stores of fat that have been there for decades? And if so, is it like an attic where all the old toxins and trash are stored, and now it's coming out? If yes, that wouldn't help. But let's face it, we're probably not going to see anything on that in a peer-reviewed article in a professional journal.

Even if all we can do is speculate, I appreciate the company in my miz-of-the-tum.

Already decided that if I don't feel better tomorrow, I'm staying home from work.

Stayed home yesterday, wise decision.
Went in to work today, not quite so wise, but made it through.
Someone told me that there was a new strain of norovirus going around, ground zero being the military base nearby. She said it tore through their household last week, and described the symptoms. I checked all of them except the diarrhea--probably thanks to only a minimal amount of food having been consumed. I did upchuck one evening, but since there was nothing in me at that point but water it was pretty painless. Mostly the stomach upset, headache, chills, brain fog, and copious amounts of self-pity.

So. Another LC mystery cleared up. Much better now. Tough way to drop weight, but if the couple of pounds I burned off this weekend stay gone, I won't mind. Thank you for being there in my hour of misery-loves-company.